​“I CAN’T GET UP!”

This is an extract from myAutumn (Half) Term 2018/19 'SEN Update' entitled: “GOES TOUR, STAYS TOUR!"​​​that was released on 9th November 2018.

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I returned a few day ago from doing another international bike ride on my specially-modified recumbent trike for the charity, Norwood, which helps children and young people with disabilities. I am glad to say that, together with friends, I managed to raise about another £21,500 for Norwood.This time (my 9th), the ride was in Greece and we cycled just under 500 kilometres in 5 days to/from the beautiful city of Thessaloniki (Salonica) and also completely around the very hilly island of Thassos!People ask me why I do so many rides for Norwood. One reason is that I like to do something that helps both me (in terms of keeping active and challenging my progressive disability) and that helps me also help other disabled people (in terms of raising money).But one of the other reasons I do these rides, is that Norwood (who were the original charity that started fundraising through bike rides) also takes people with disabilities who it helps, on them, riding on the back of tandems ridden by other strong cyclists.

​It is very special and eye-opening riding with disabled people who you know will benefit from your fundraising. When you do a ride like this, where you share challenges everyday with other like-minded people, you really feel that you are making a difference. They say that you are also joining the Norwood 'family'!As you may know from reading this section in my previous updates, these bike rides always seem to have funny things happening to me, as a disabled person using a wheelchair. I am also conscious that, whilst I often will reveal things to people, there is a lot I don’t tell sometimes - as I often hear from fellow riders:

“What goes on tour, stays on tour…”As you may recall from my update at this time last year, I arrived on that bike ride to find that our airline had left my wheelchair back in England, so I had to spend the first few days without it (although I had one lent to me in the interim by the airport). ​This time, whilst I managed to get my wheelchair to Greece, unfortunately, the cushion that I sit on was left behind by accident in England. I therefore spent the week sitting about an inch or so lower in my wheelchair.An added difficulty was that my cushion is ‘Velcro-ed’ to the seat of my wheelchair, so I then also found that with my Lycra cycling ‘bottoms’ on, I would stick to the wheelchair when I was sitting on it, which made it hard for me to get up again from my wheelchair when I needed to transfer to my trike!My finding myself ‘Velcro-ed’ to my wheelchair was very amusing to everyone during the week and, after initially feel aggrieved by this, I also found myself eventually seeing the funny side of it.One of the people who I have ridden with during the past few years is a young man with Down’s Syndrome called Nick, who has a great sense of humour and positive attitude to life, but who also has a speech impediment.So it was even funnier when I found myself one day towards the end of the ride, experiencing real difficulty getting up from my wheelchair when Nick looked at me and said:“Goes tour, stays tour!” ​

With best wishes

Douglas

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